I Think I'm in Love with the Pizza Man
by Jade-Tessier
Summary: ~*~*~ The SECOND CHAPTER is finally up! ~*~*~ Absence can do powerful things to people in love. S/V R
1. True Confessions of a Double Agent

I Think I'm in Love with the Pizza Man  
  
By Jade  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Happy? Well, with the exception of my networking stuff and my crappy CD burner, I own nothing.  
  
Time Frame: Season Two, after "Trust Me" Summary: Sydney and Vaughn can't go out in public together, but what about the warehouse?  
  
Author's Note: My first Alias fic. I usually write Dark Angel fanfic, but after I started watching the show recently, I kept getting all these ideas for Alias fanfic..  
  
Please R&R, flames and reviews are accepted!  
  
  
  
One- True Confessions of a Double Agent  
  
It was Monday morning. Monday, the day despised by all people receiving that valuable slip of paper every other week or so. People trudged to work unhappy about the short freedom that was usually spent working or helping the kids with homework or standing in front of ugly furniture that might be in the house one day. With emails bursting out of their inbox and loads of projects waiting to be started and finished within a set-in-stone time limit, millions unrestfully crashed into their chairs and started another boring week in corporate America.  
  
But not for Sydney Bristow. The minute she walked into that office, she'd already had a request to be in the briefing room before she even had enough time to get her coffee.  
  
Such a great way to start the week.  
  
After setting her purse on her desk, Sydney made a beeline to the briefing room. She took a seat in her usual spot (next to Dixon) and waited for her next mission. Sloane promptly walked in with her father following close behind.  
  
"Good morning, Sydney! I rest assured your weekend was a good one?" Sloane said, and sat down at the head of the table, looking at Sydney expectantly.  
  
"Yes, it was." she replied, "Some friends and I went to a club," she sat watching her father stare at her with eyes that meant "reveal only what is necessary!"  
  
"Very good. Well, as soon as Marshall gets here, we'll get started."  
  
At that moment, Marshall burst into the room with papers and gadgets overflowing from the heap he had in his arms.  
  
"Sorry I'm late. My mother decided to call me this morning and go on and on about her current state of health. 'Mom? Mom! I have to go to work!' " he mimicked. " 'Yes, dear, well, they'll just have to wait, my colonoscopy is much more important than your job at that bank. And then they stuck that tube-' "  
  
"That's enough, Marshall," Sloane said firmly with a wave of his hand.  
  
"Right. Sorry." Marshall took a seat and dumped his armload of papers and toys onto the desk.  
  
"Three days ago, a massive break in at the Sephora store on the Champs- Élysées took place. The owner of the store is a man by the name of Girbaud." A picture of an elderly Parisian man clad in a business suit and gray hair appeared on the flat screen monitors in front of them.  
  
"Girbaud as in the father of Jacque Girbaud, the head of Kell-Air 26?" Dixon questioned, not looking up from his screen.  
  
"Kell-Air 26? Who are they?" Sydney asked, obviously missing something that all the men in the room had seemed to get.  
  
"Kell-Air 26 is a group of rogue French secret service agents. They haven't caused any trouble to the Alliance or any of the Alliance's associates, but some are starting to worry," Jack commented.  
  
"Thomas Girbaud, although a rather innocent store owner and fashion guru by day, is a notorious smuggler and drug lord by night. SD-6 has been trying to pin the cannabis scandal at the Parliament on Girbaud for months now, but so far all our attempts have failed."  
  
"So this is another round of the blame game?" Sydney sighed. "No," her father said coldly. "That isn't as important as what's at stake right now."  
  
"Then what is at stake?"  
  
Sloane rose from his chair and clicked a remote, changing the picture of Girbaud on the screens to a picture of a mass grave somewhere in Africa.  
  
"Girbaud had a bioengineered viral agent, tastefully hidden in his store as just another perfume. After the break in, he discovered that the viral agent was gone. If the agent is dispersed, that," he pointed to the screen, "will happen to the rest of France, and maybe even all of Europe."  
  
"The how are we supposed to retrieve the agent f we don't even know where it is?" Dixon wondered.  
  
"We do know where it is. K-Directorate took it," Sloane said, rather reserved, and the screen changed once again to a picture of Anna Espinosa holding the agent.  
  
Sydney clenched her jaw. I should have guessed. Anna.  
  
"Why did they take it?" Dixon mused.  
  
"So they can use it against us," Sydney muttered. The eyes in the room shifted to her. "Isn't that right?"  
  
"It is, Sydney. You leave for France tomorrow," Sloane said, sliding their assignments to them in black portfolios.  
  
  
  
  
  
The sun shone brightly in the open campus. The cool air coaxed the flowers to open their heads and beam brightly. The grounds were loitered with students; some walking, talking, others deep in thought over the assignment due in about thirty minutes. Sydney sat in the middle row of the numerous amount of metal tables hugged in plastic in the middle of the campus. She was scribbling furiously in what seemed to be a notebook to the passerby, but in reality was a brown paper bag.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Vaughn-  
  
  
  
A bioengineered viral agent has recently  
  
been stolen. It is powerful enough to wipe  
  
out hundreds upon thousands of people.  
  
It was in the hands of Thomas Girbaud  
  
before stolen by Anna Espinosa.  
  
My mission is to retrieve the agent and  
  
bring it back to SD-6 for testing, so I'm  
  
off to Paris.  
  
What's my counter mission?  
  
She crumbled up the paper bag and dunked it into the near by trashcan, and walked to her next class. For some reason, Sydney had had a strange notion to write "Love, Sydney," but she had no idea why. Lately with her mother in CIA custody and Vaughn helping her out on missions, she felt the need to see that hockey game with him more and more.  
  
Am I in love with Vaughn?  
  
She pushed it as far from her mind as she could, but no matter how much she tried, he kept popping into her mind. She wanted to go to that hockey game before Cole barged into SD-6, indirectly forcing her to stay on the boat and save the day.  
  
She recollected to that meeting she'd had with Vaughn before she headed to Moscow to eavesdrop on Sark and K-Directorate.  
  
"No, but, what you said about wanting to go to a hockey game... wanting me to be part of your life... I think I wasn't clear about something. That it would be nice to be in public with you, to actually get to look at you. Grab a pizza or go to a hockey game. I just... I wasn't clear that I would really like that, too."  
  
'That it would be nice to be in public with you, to actually get to look at you.' What does that mean?, she wondered.  
  
Whatever it meant, it gave her that feeling. It felt so good, yet it made her feel so guilty. It was that something that she had felt when Danny was still alive.  
  
But in a way, it was different.  
  
When Vaughn looked at her, she could feel the world stop. SD-6 felt easier to take down, her secret life didn't feel so horrible anymore, even though the only reason Sydney ever saw him was to get counter missions.still, she saw him.  
  
The realization hit like an RDT bus smacking into neglected newspapers in the street.  
  
Oh God, I think I'm in love with Vaughn.  
  
Her phone rang obnoxiously in her purse, and somehow even in her state of shock, she managed to answer it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Joey's Pizza?" 


	2. He was That Close!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Happy? Well, with the exception of my networking stuff and my crappy CD burner, I own nothing.  
  
Time Frame: Season Two, after "Trust Me"  
  
Author's Note: My first Alias fic. I usually write Dark Angel fanfic, but after I started watching the show recently, I kept getting all these ideas for Alias fanfic..  
  
Please R&R, flames and reviews are accepted!  
Two- He was That Close!  
  
Sydney drove through the streets of Los Angeles to the warehouse on mental autopilot. The warehouse seemed to be her second home in an odd way; she had been there so many times in the last two years that she could probably get there in her sleep. As she numbly navigated through the streets, thoughts swam in her head and she could feel her conscious drowning, unable to seek peace of mind at all.  
  
'I can't believe it. I'm a double agent fighting to take down high and mighty men who give evil a whole new meaning. I know how to diffuse bombs, the best pressure points in a 250-pound security guard, and how to fool lie detector tests, but when it comes to love. I'm still in the dark. I mean, I did have Danny, and he was wonderful. but he died because of me. I don't want anyone that I love to get hurt anymore, and I don't want a repeat of what happened to Will. So I guess in order to keep that up, I've just turned my emotions off. Hiding behind a mask has gotten me this far, but is it really how I want to spend the rest of my life, alone and secretive?'  
  
She pulled into the drive next to Vaughn's car and walked into the dark warehouse. Here goes nothing.  
  
Vaughn looked up as she made her usual entrance into the warehouse, and he flashed her a grin. "Hey."  
  
"Hey. Whatcha got for me?" she asked coolly. 'The answer I'm looking for would be you.'  
  
"Your mission to Jakarta was successful. The agency's using the disk you got for us and is looking through it to find any viable information," he said optimistically.  
  
Moments passed in a comfortable silence. "About your next mission," Vaughn said, slicing through the unspoken comfort. "We would like you to take this bottle, in place of the real one, and give it to SD-6. It's an exact replica of the bottle, except that this one only has perfume in it."  
  
"So Sloane will just think it was a false alarm," she concluded.  
  
"Exactly. We'll test the real agent and see its global impact. While exiting the airport, you'll wrap up the real bottle and drop it in a "recycle only" trashcan near the baggage claim. An agent, posing as a janitor, will empty the bins and pick up the bottle," Vaughn finished.  
  
After getting the bottle and examining it, Sydney set the bottle back on the table. Silence filled the warehouse once again, neither one attempting to taint the comfortable atmosphere. Sydney finally asked the question that would make her father's blood boil over. "No intel from my mother before leaving tomorrow?"  
  
"Not that I can see," he said, relieved that she wouldn't be put through anymore. Her mother had caused her enough pain over the last year.and the last twenty years. I don't want to see her in any more pain. She means too much to me. I've broken protocol and gone to Barnett too many times to see Syd in any pain.  
  
Sydney sighed in relief. She didn't really want to see her mother again. I can't become attached, dependent, and vulnerable to whatever she's hiding up her sleeve. It had put her through too much pain. 'Vaughn seems to be the only person I can trust and who I know won't stab me in the back.'  
  
"Sydney? Sydney?" Vaughn waved his hand in front of her face. She looked like she was going through some kind of internal battle, but he didn't know what it was about. 'I have no idea how she does it, how she can go through each day without cracking; she has so much stuff going on now. I wish I could make it all go away, but when Sydney's personal life is involved, my hands are tied.'  
  
"What?" She was so lost in her own realizations that she had missed Vaughn's hand trying to beckon her back to earth. She looked up to see concern all over his face but quickly looked at the gray concrete. 'Keep it professional, professional.'  
  
Vaughn lifted her chin gently so he could see her. "Are you ok? You seem kind of distant.Is this about your mother? Because, you know we can always see if we could get-"  
  
Syd couldn't help smiling at him. Vaughn was so concerned about her happiness even though it was against the rules. She nodded slightly and smiled back his worry self. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just.you know."  
  
"Stressed out?" he offered.  
  
"Yeah... just stressed out. that's all. It's nothing to worry about." she rambled on.  
  
Vaughn covered her hands with his own. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"  
  
'I can't tell you that I'm madly in love with you!' She nodded mutely and looked up into his beautiful eyes once more. "I have to go," she whispered softly, "I told Francie I would help her out with some stuff at the restaurant."  
  
His hands let go of hers and returned to his pockets. As she slowly picked up her purse and started to walk out, Vaughn saw the bottle of perfume that she had left on the table.  
  
"Wait!" He grabbed her arm and pulled her back quickly.  
  
The space keeping them apart was only a few inches, but the tension was a several hundred miles thicker than that. She could feel his breath on her face as he moved just a little closer. His green eyes reflected a mix of emotions, most which she couldn't ascertain. Vaughn was moving closer and closer.  
  
Ring ring ring! Sydney's cell phone caused them to both jump back. She fumbled around in her purse for her phone and finally fished it out. "Hello?"  
  
"Syd? Where are you? I thought we were going to have lunch together about 45 minutes ago?" Francie's worry voiced questioned.  
  
"Sorry, I had a lot of bank stuff to go over. I'll be there soon, ok?"  
  
When she finally hung up, Vaughn handed her the bottle. "You forgot this."  
  
Syd put the perfume in her purse and smiled at him. "Thanks. I'll see you when I get back."  
  
"Yeah. Good luck, Sydney."  
  
As Vaughn watched her leave, he got the feeling that she was hiding something from him, but he didn't know why. Sydney turned back to look at him with a darker shade of brown in her eyes. A weak smile graced her features but quickly disappeared. 'What are you hiding from me, Sydney Bristow? What are you hiding?'  
  
Sydney let the breath jumping in her lungs finally escape as the sun caressed her face. He was that close to kissing her! That close! 'How am I going to survive these meetings if I keep acting like a hormonal teenager? If only this revelation about being head over heels had come after I return from Paris.but it just never seems to work out that way, does it?'  
The restaurant was crazy. The bare shell yet to be transformed into Francie's vision of a lively, comfortable getaway was insulated in a thick coat of sawdust, and the orchestra of hammers kissing nails fiercely and saws screaming filled the stale air. Sydney found Francie standing in the middle of it all, plastic work goggles on, covered in dust, just standing in awe of her dream coming true. She taped Francie lightly on the shoulder since yelling seemed to drown in all the sounds of the Mexican radio station blaring somewhere in the background.  
  
"Hey, sweetie!" Syd said, hugging her best friend.  
  
"Hey! Isn't this great! I can't believe that this will be my restaurant soon! It's so exciting!" Francie gushed. "Oh! Is that lunch I smell?"  
  
Sydney laughed at her friend's animation and handed Francie the lunch she had gotten for the two of them. They walked outside of Francie's soon-to-be restaurant and sat on a bus bench not far from the madness that brewed behind them. As the two ate, Francie babbled on at a rapid fire pace. Opening a restaurant was quite eventful and time consuming. Francie's words soon started to muddle together into a long, incoherent sentence. Her gaze slowly shifted from Francie and her food to the floral shop across the street. She looked at the flowers contained behind glass windows, and their vibrant colors welcomed her warmly. The windows of the shop were also plaited with green ivy running along the edges. 'Green. just like his gorgeous green eyes.'  
  
"Syd? Syd!" Francie nudged her friend. "Did you hear what I said?"  
  
Sydney slowly nodded. "Of course I did! You were talking about. your restaurant, right?" Francie shot a look at Syd. Syd was always on top of things; she was never this disconnected. Suddenly a light bulb went on in Francie's head. Is she in love? Not wanting to scare her, Francie moved to another subject not to far from the one she had had in mind. "Something's changed in you Syd. You seem so.how do I put this.disconnected. Is there something you want to tell me? Syd?"  
  
"Me? No, I'm okay. I just keep getting distracted. That's all."  
  
"Distracted? What's so distracting?" Francie asked.  
  
"Well, my job's.well, school's been. I've been.everything's distracting," Syd ended lamely.  
  
"Oh, come on! You can't expect me to fall for that! Don't lie to me! I've seen you like this before. when you were with Danny. You're in love, aren't you?"  
  
Sydney blushed and glanced down the street to seek refuge from Francie's questioning face. Her eyes landed on a billboard advertising some new movie she didn't really want to see, but it was much better than looking at Francie. Finally deciding that she could avoid her best friend all day, Syd looked back at Francie who was rather impatiently awaiting her answer. "I.how, but." she fumbled to find words to deny Francie's accusations. Finally she just decided to give up and tell Francie the truth. Well, not the whole truth, but some of it. "Am I that transparent?" Sydney wondered aloud.  
  
"I knew it! I knew it!" Francie shouted happily, "I'll hafta tell Will that he owes me ten bucks."  
  
"Wait, what? Why does Will care about my lo-You and Will had a bet? That I was in love with someone? You're betting on my love life?" Syd couldn't believe it.  
  
"Well, I mean, come on Syd! You haven't gone a date with anyone since Danny died, but I can still see that look in your eyes whenever you get home from work! Are you in love with somebody from the bank?"  
  
'I think McCullough's finally met his match... Remember, the truth.' "His name is Michael," Sydney said with a smiled plastered on her face.  
  
Francie inched closer to Sydney with anticipation sparkling in her eyes. "And.?"  
  
"And there's nothing I can do about it. Interoffice dating is frowned upon at the bank. Case closed," Syd said sadly.  
  
Francie leaned forward and wrapped Syd in a hug. "Aww, sweetie! You know you could just quit your job at the bank and go out with him! I could always use your help at the restaurant when it's done," Francie offered optimistically.  
  
Sydney sadly smiled and shook her head. "I can't. I need this job," she lied.  
  
"What you need is love, not some stupid job," Francie stated firmly.  
  
'What I need is Michael Vaughn.' 


End file.
